We are delighted to announce that products from SIRO, the wholesale broadband operator building Ireland’s 100% fibre-optic broadband network are now listed on bonkers.ie. Read on for all the details.
Living in regional Ireland and tired of terrible broadband speeds? If you live in one of Ireland’s growing list of regional towns powered by SIRO, we’ve got some great news for you. In just a few clicks you could be on your way to guaranteed 1Gb (1,000 Mbps) download speeds.
What is SIRO?
SIRO is a joint venture of ESB and Vodafone which is investing €450 million in building Ireland’s first 100% Fibre-to-the-Building broadband network, offering a 1 Gb internet connection to 500,000 premises in fifty towns across Ireland. 150,000 Irish homes and businesses already have access to SIRO’s broadband and this figure is set to rise to 250,000 by the end of 2018.
A 1Gb connection? Really?
Given that Virgin Media was named fastest broadband provider in Ireland just last February with a top speed of 360Mb, some of you might be finding it difficult to believe that access to a 1 Gb (or 1,000 Mb) connection is now a reality. How can SIRO offer such a rapid connection? The answer is simple.
With SIRO, you’ll be getting a Fibre-to-the-Building connection. An FTTB connection means that the fibre optic cables delivering your broadband connection run directly to your home so that you won’t lose any speed in a conversion process.
As it stands, the vast majority of fibre broadband connections in Ireland are Fibre-to-the-Cabinet, which means that your provider’s fibre cables run to a telephone network junction box on the street near your home, after which the connection is converted and has to run through much slower copper cables for the rest of the distance to your home.
Consequently, the connection loses a lot of its speed in those couple of hundred metres. This is why many providers advertise speeds of up to _____; rather than speeds of a definitive number. However, with an FTTB connection, you’ll be guaranteed of getting the speed advertised to you.
How can I get SIRO powered broadband?
SIRO is not a broadband provider but rather a wholesale broadband operator. It is offered on an open-access basis to all telecoms retailers in Ireland.
Currently, on bonkers.ie, broadband powered by SIRO is available through Vodafone and Digiweb and we are hoping to add other smaller retailers to the network in the near future.
To find out if SIRO is available in your area, all you have to do is visit our broadband comparison page and enter your address or eircode. If a SIRO powered broadband package is available in your area, it will appear in your results. Choose the plan you best like the look of and switch - we’ll take care of the rest. It’s as easy as that!
If SIRO isn’t available in your area yet, you can sign up here and as soon as your building is connectable you will be informed by SIRO.
Why should I choose a broadband connection powered by SIRO?
Commenting on bonkers.ie’s new partnership with SIRO, Ronan Whelan, SIRO Commercial Director, said:
“We’re delighted to now be listed on bonkers.ie. bonkers.ie provides a vital service by allowing customers to compare providers in one location, giving them the best information available to choose the supplier that most suits their needs. As the quality and speed of our internet becomes more and more important, consumers are now looking for higher capacity broadband to improve the quality of their lives, whether that is sending and receiving large files and communicating for business or streaming and downloading entertainment at home.
“20,000 customers across the country are now connected to SIRO’s network, the first of its kind in Ireland, delivering a 100% fibre-to-the-building network directly into homes and businesses. Our network has no copper connections at any point to slow down the network and delivers 1 Gb download and upload speeds. For context, when downloading a 4 Gigabytes high definition film with a 10 Mbps connection, the download time is an hour - with SIRO it takes approximately 30 seconds. We are continuing to expand our rollout by connecting more homes and businesses across the country to our 100% Gigabit connectivity and providing our network to an increased number of retailers.”
Future-proof your home with SIRO
SIRO will revolutionise how consumers and businesses in Ireland experience broadband and will future-proof Ireland for innovative new services over the next thirty years.
For example, households using online video streaming services like Netflix will soon need more powerful broadband connections to access ultra-high definition video.
Similarly, students are using the internet more to work on projects through online video and collaboration tools.
A 100% Fibre-to-the-Building connection which does not lose speed in the journey to get from the provider to the home, has the capacity to cater for people’s ever-growing broadband needs and demands.
SIRO not available in your area?
If you’re still waiting on SIRO to make it to your area but you’ve had it up to here with shoddy download speeds, you might want to take a look at Virgin Media’s newly discounted broadband bundles. Aside from SIRO, Virgin Media offers the highest speeds in Ireland, with a top speed of 360Mb.
Can’t switch? There are simple steps you can take at home to boost your existing broadband connection’s signal. Have a look at this video for some easy tips:
If you are thinking of switching, don't forget to compare all of your options using our broadband comparison page.
